362 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-V 



sical studies " was less serious. The history of such stud- 

 ies at Cornell since that time has fully justified the policy 

 then pursued. Every competent observer will, I feel sure, 

 say that at no other American institution have these 

 studies been pursued with more earnestness or with better 

 results. The Museum of Classical Archaeology, which has 

 since been founded by the generous gift of Mr. Sage, has 

 stimulated an increased interest in them; and graduates 

 of Cornell are now exercising a wide influence in classical 

 teaching: any one adequately acquainted with the history 

 of American education knows what the influence of Cor- 

 nell has been in bettering classical instruction throughout 

 the State of New York. There has been another incidental 

 gain. Among the melancholy things of college life in the 

 old days was the relation of students to classical profes- 

 sors. The majority of the average class looked on such 

 a professor as generally a bore and, as examinations ap- 

 proached, an enemy ; they usually sneered at him as a ped- 

 ant, and frequently made his peculiarities a subject for de- 

 rision. Since that day far better relations have grown up 

 between teachers and taught, especially in those institutions 

 where much is left to the option of the students. The stu- 

 dents in each subject, being those who are really interested 

 in it, as a rule admire and love their professor, and what- 

 ever little peculiarities he may have are to them but pleas- 

 ing accompaniments of his deeper qualities. This is a per- 

 fectly simple and natural result, which will be understood 

 fully by any one who has observed human nature to much 

 purpose. 



Besides this course in arts, in which classical studies 

 were especially prominent, there were established courses 

 in science, in literature, and in philosophy, differing from 

 each other mainly in the proportion observed between 

 ancient languages, modern languages, and studies in vari- 

 ous sciences and other departments of thought. Each of 

 these courses was laid down with much exactness for the 

 first two years, with large opportunity for choice between 

 subjects in the last two years. The system worked well, 



